Best of the Web

Tarantino says 13-yo 'wanted to have it'

07 February 2018

The backlash against director Quentin Tarantino keeps building.

After being accused by Uma Thurman of coercing her to perform a dangerous driving stunt, which led to a car crash, on the set of Kill Bill, the filmmaker is now under fire for defending Roman Polanski in a 2003 Howard Stern interview that has resurfaced online.

Tarantino said Polanski's 13-year-old victim "wanted to have it and dated the guy."

Polanski was arrested in 1977 for five offenses following the alleged assault, including rape by use of drugs, perversion, sodomy, and lewd and lascivious acts upon a child under 14. He fled the country after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor.

"He didn't rape a 13-year-old," Tarantino said in the unearthed interview when asked by Stern why Hollywood embraces Polanski. "It was statutory rape. That's not quite the same thing. ... He had sex with a minor. That's not rape. To me, when you use the word 'rape,' you're talking about violent, throwing them down; it's like one of the most violent crimes in the world. Throwing the word 'rape' around is like throwing the word 'racist' around. It doesn't apply to everything that people use it for. He was guilty of having sex with a minor."

Howard Stern Show co-host Robin Quivers then interrupted the director to note that the sex wasn't consensual.

"No, that was not the case at all. She wanted to have it and dated the guy," he said.

Audio of the interview was pulled from YouTube on Tuesday due to a copyright claim.